Treated textiles



the trade as Tow. filament into staple, arranges the staple in suitable fashion and produces a loosely spun yarn. commonly known as Top/ Unless the electrojstati'cdualities or the tow are cntrolled,-produc- 1 tics of a continuous top is impossible.

Patented July 6, 1954 TREATED TEXTILES Allen V. Riley, Jr., New Castle, Del., and Richard D. Fine III, Merchantville, N. L, assignors to Atlas Powder Company, Wilmington, DeL, a

corporation of'Delaware I No Drawing.

Application October 7, 1950, SerialNo. 189,068

11 Claims. (Cl. 117---139.5)

This invention relates to the production of treated textiles and related materials. More specifically the invention. relates to the production of treated fibers, staple fibers, felts, threads, cords,

yarns, pellicles, filaments fabrics and the like of synthet'c or natural origin.

It is an object of the present invention to provide treated fibers, staple fibers, felts, cords,

threads, yarns, pellicles, filaments, fabrics and the like for use in textile and related manufacture which are antistatic in nature.

Other objects will become apparent the course of the following specification and appended claims.

Adaptability of fibers, staple fibers, felts, cords, threads, yarns, pellicles, filaments, fabrics and the like to automatic handling operations is of extreme importance in the manufacture of textiles. Modern high speed machinery technique requires a feed of appropriate characteristics to permit uninterrupted and fault free operation. The electrostatic qualities of the textile being handled can frequently spell the success or failure of such undertakings. Thus, yarn which tends to balloon, due to the accumulation of static charges as it passes over equipment, is entirely unsatisfactory for operations such as knitting where it produces uneven stitches and knotting. Furthermore, in the spinning of yarns, the presence of static electrical charges upon the particles being spun, will cause production of uneven yarns and a high percentage of slubs. Themost' acute problem arises in the use of the more modern machinery such as for instance the converters employed in'the Tow'to Top-spinning process. This machineis fed a bundle of continuous synthetic filament in parallel arrangement known to It then'cuts or breaks the In accordance with the present invention, it

has been discovered that by treating textile fibers,

staple fibers, felts, cords, threads, yarns, pellicles, filaments, fabrics and the like with a composition of matter comprising an aqueous solution of a clas of organic morpholine derivatives to be describedhereinafter, they can be rendered antistatic in nature.

The morp-holine derivatives which act as textil'e antistatic agents are materials of the class A onion? R-N \orno Lower Alkyl wherein R is a long chain aliphatic radical containing from 11 to carbon atoms and A isan anion. Suitable derivatives may be formed by substituting within the above formula, the com.- pcnents suggested in Table I:

Table I Lower Alkyl A Undecyl Methyl Halide Lauryl Ethyl Nitrate Myristyl Amyl Phosphate Oetyl Alkylsulfate Oleyl Cyanide Stcaryl Acetate Soyalyl Benzoate Citrate Tartrate static agents, the textile fiber in the form of a skein or yarn was first soaked for five minutes in a 5% aqueous solution of the quaternary. morpholinium derivative. It was centrifuged for 30 seconds in a small basket extractor and dried in air.

Electrostatic charges were then induced by first rubbing 12 times with a glass rod to induce an electrostatic charge and then,after observation as indicated below, rubbing 12 times with a hard rubber rod to induce an opposite electrostatic charge. Observations of the charges induced were given electrostatic rating as indicated in Table II.

Table II Qbservatlon 0 No evidence of electrostatic charge.

.. Just enough electrostatic charge to disturb a filament. Sulicient electrostatic charge to lift a filament from 3 7, Sufficient electrostatic charge to cause a slight ballooni'ng of'a'ske'in'.

Suliicient electrostatic charge to cause considerable ballooning of a skein.

The concentration of the quaternary ammonium derivative in the aqueous. solution. may vary over a wide range depending upon the method of application and subsequent treatment of the soaked textile. In general, it has been found that efiective static protection requires that there be deposited on. the textile at least 0.4% or the quaternary ammonium compound based on the weight of the treated textile. This level can be reached satisfactorily with aqueous concentrations as low as 2%. The upper limit is governed only by the solubility of the antistatic agent. The ratio of liquor to textile is not critical. An approximate ratio of 50:1 has been found convenient and employed in the examples.

The following examples are cited to illustrate the invention. They are not intended to limit it in any way.

Example I Observed Static Rating Test Conditions Air dried, room temperature After 22 hours at 65 C After 96 hours at 65 C After 168 hours at 65 C After 240 hours at 65 C.

After 240 hours at 65 C. After 2 hours at 65 C. After 240 hours at 65 C. After 240 hours at 65 C. After 240 hours at 65 C.

and 48 hours at 105 C and 96 hours at 105 C.-. and 192 hours at 105 C. and 240 hours at 105 O and 336 hours at 105 0.-

Oahu-0900000 Substituting cetyl Example 11 methyl morpholinium methosulfate for the quaternary ammonium compound of Example I, the following observations were made.

Test Conditions Observed Static Rat Air dried, room temperature After 22 hours at 65 C After 96 hours at 65 0.- After 168 hours at 65 O After 240 hours at 65 C After 240 hours at 65 C. After 240 hours at 65 C.

After 240 hours at 65 C.

, After 240 hours at 65 0.

After 240 hours at 65 0.

and 48 hours at 105 C. and 96 hours at 105 C." and 192 hours at 105 0.. and 240 hours at 105 0.- and 336 hours at 105 C.

NHHOQOQOCO OOOOOOOOOO Example III An identical yarn treated in a manner such as described in Example I without the antistatic agent was rated as shown below:

6 Observed Static Rating Test Conditions Air dried, room temperature 4 3 After 22 hours at C 3 3 After 96 hours at 65 C .l 3 3 After 168 hours at 65 C 3 3 After 2 10 hours at 65 C 4 4 After 240 hours at 65 0. and 48 hours at 105 0... 4 3 After 240 hours at 65 C. and 96 hours at 105 C 4 3 Example IV A nylon yarn identical to that of Example I was treated in the manner described in Example I employing a 5% solution of lauryl methyl morpholinium methosulfate. were obtained.

The following data Example V Substituting soyalyl ethyl morpholinium ethosulfate for the quaternary employed in Example IV above, identical results were obtained, except that after 240 hours at 65 C. and 192 hours at C., the negative charge was rated at 2 and the positive charge at 1.

All of the morpholine derivatives described are very valuable in controlling the undesirable accumulation of electrostatic charges. However, it is obvious from the examples above that the cetyl derivatives (Examples I and II) show an exceptional capacity in that regard.

While nylon has been used to quantitatively demonstrate the value of the morpholine quaternary ammonium compounds as antistatic agents since it is highly susceptible to such static charges, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other textiles of natural and especially synthetic origin may likewise be treated. Thus, acetate rayon, Viscose rayon, Orlon (a polyacrylonitrile) cotton, wool, silk, glass, linen and the like have all been found amenable to the process. Satisfactory electrostatic elimination is obtained by treatment of these various materials as indicated below:

It will be apparent that many variations can be made without departing from the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A treated textile containing an anti-static agent of the formula C H2- 0 H2 Lower Alkyl wherein R, is an aliphatic radical containing from 11 to 20 carbon atoms, A is a lower alkyl sulfate radical; said anti-static agent being at least 0.4% by weight of the treated textile.

2. A treated textile as defined in claim 1 wherein the textile is formed of synthetic fibers.

3. A treated textile as defined in claim 1 wherein the textile is nylon.

4. A treated textile as wherein the textile is glass.

5. A treated textile as wherein the textile is rayon.

6. A treated textile as defined in claim 1 wherein the textile is acetate rayon.

7. A treated textile as defined in claim 1 wherein the textile is formed of acrylic fibers.

8. A treated textile containing as an anti-static agent at least 0.4% of cetyl ethyl morpholinium ethosulfate, based on the weight of the treated textile.

9. A treated textile containing as an anti-static agent at least 0.4% of soyalyl ethyl morpholinium ethosulfate, based on the weight of the treated textile.

10. A treated textile containing as an antistatic agent at least 0.4% of lauryl methyl morpholinium methosulfate, based on the weight of the treated textile.

11. A process of treating textiles to render them anti-static which comprises treating said textile with an aqueous solution containing at least 2% of a compound of the formula defined in claim -1 defined in claim 1 A OHz-CH: H CH2C2 Lower alkyl References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date ,137,235 Carothers Nov. 22, 1938 2,186,628 Dickey Jan. 9, 1940 2,197,930 Jackson et a1. Apr. 23, 1940 2,417,992 Niederl et al Mar. 25, 1947 2,563,506 Werntz Aug. 7, 1951 

1. A TREATED TEXTILE CONTAINING AN ANTI-STATIC AGENT OF THE FORMULA 